Menu

Month: September 2017

With Youth Football soon to kick off across all age Categories we will be introducing our Youth Teams and coaches over the following days. The kids have been working hard through the Summer and in Pre-Season led by a team of dedicated and committed coaches. Today we introduce our Under 9’s coached by Ian Mañasco and Ernest Costa. We caught up with the team and asked them a few questions.

1. Ian, reflect on how your team did last season.

IM: Last season’s reflection was a very positive one considering it was a new team and our first year together. The team was facing a massive change going from 5a side to 7aside and from the small Futsal pitches to Pitch 2 which is much, much bigger. The team has taken the new scenario very well and given massive steps forward, they have proved they can compete with all the teams in the league, even the second-year ones. Our lowest moment came just after Christmas when all the teams had still not completed the first round of fixtures and the GFA decided to split the league in 2 tiers. Sadly, to our surprise we had been put in the Second tier after we had won all our games beating Under 9 teams of 2nd year. Our best moment and highlight must be finishing off our season playing in the prestigious Boni cup in Marbella with teams from all over Spain. The team and myself have benefited from this massive experience and has given us the right motivation to work even harder in the future.

2. What are you hoping to achieve this season?

IM: For this year I hope to see the team continue with the development and potential shown up to now. Our aim this season will be set on the Futsal cup and the league cup which are the only two competitive titles to play for. The team is already well into pre-season and with the necessary motivation and work ethic to achieve our objectives.

3. Ernest, how has preseason gone so far with your team?

EC: This year we began pre-season on the last week of August in Sandy bay. Training in the beach is hard but it is also fun for them, we have a great group of boys, we really make sure they enjoy their football and their time together. In the last couple of weeks, we have also played two friendly matches in Spain in order for them to begin to get the feel of it after a long summer break. Thanks to Palmones and Peña Madridista for having us. We are really looking forward to begin training more regularly (as soon as the allocations become available) and for the season to begin.

Lions’ great win over Europa FC closed the 1st round of the Premier Division late on Wednesday evening with a surprising 2-1 victory. With Lincoln setting a blistering pace following a 4-0 win over Glacis United earlier in the evening everyone has now played their first game of the 17/18 Season.

Gibraltar Phoenix claimed their maiden Premier victory over 10 man Mons Calpe while St Jospeh’s laboured against a well disciplined Manchester 62 to gain a 2-1 win in the league’s opening fixture. With United beating Lynx the first table of the season sees us second. Very early days but certianly a morale booster for the squad going into the second round of matches in a fortnight’s time.

Following the 1st Round of Premier Division matches Under 21 Coach Aaron Asquez announced his squad for the forthcoming UEFA Under 21 matches. Gibraltar are due to play on Monday 2nd October vs Armenia and then on Tuesday 10th October vs Macedonia. The original 18 call ups are for the Armenia match while a futher squad will be announced for the Macedonia match.

Michael Negrette, Tito De Torres and Cecil Prescott have all been called up for the Armenia match. Michael has already made his debut for the club, getting about 20 minutes and playing a vital role versus Lynx FC. Tito had made the squad as an unused sub while Cecil was unavailable through injury. We wish all three the best on their ventures and hope to see them wearing the national colours with pride!

Ayman Elghobashy on for Filipe Da Cruz Ramalho
Michael Negrette on for Marco Meireles
Igor Djoman on for Jamie Bosio

The Premier Division is finally back and it sees United face off against Lynx FC in our first match of the 2017/18 season. United give debuts to 7 new summer signings in a new look line up. Chino has taken permanent ownership of the Captain’s armband, while Brad and Erin form the first centre half partnership of the season. Elsewhere it sees a debut for Aguiar, Meireles, Ramalho and Roman in a formidable attacking line up backed up by Bosio and Baio in midfield. Alberto and Farinha also make their debuts in the full back positions. De Torres and Negrette sit on the bench awaiting their chance following an Under 21 call up.

A blustery, Westerly day greeted United for their first match of the season against Lynx F.C. The match was preceeded by a minutes silence in memory of the passing of Mr Hidalgo Calvente, father to Pedro one of our coaches. The silence was observed impecably by all in attendance and our thanks go to the GFA and Lynx FC for agreeing to it.

Impeccably observed.

1…2…3…GIBRALTAR

United’s attacking intent was clear for all to see from the kick off as Roman kicked off the game. The native of Amsterdam was playing his first game for the club, one of 7 players making their debut from the start (3 more were to make their first appearance from the bench). Jamie Bosio touched upon this in a post match interview, ‘we’ve upped the intensity in our training and preseason matches and even though the team is completely new, it feels like we’ve known each other for a long time already. Today’s performance wasn’t the display of a team playing their first competitive game together which is excellent for us.’ Certainly the hard work preseason is starting to pay instant dividends.

Roman’s devillish pace was creating problems for Lynx since the off. His incessant hounding of the centre backs meant Lynx could not create from the back and they resorted to long balls which were inveitbaly picked up by Yalany Baio. The former Liverpool FC youth player was immense tonight. He was almost everywhere at once covering his defence while winning the second ball and then passing it on to the likes of Meireles and Pipo to create. Indeed United, despite a slow start, grew into the game and began to dominate the match. Chances came for Roman and Aguiar as United’s pressure began to tell.

However credit to Lynx and Allen Bulla who fought back and were more or less on an even pegging by half time. Credit too to the refereeing team lead by Mr Murphy who at all times let the ball flow and applied common sense to their appliction to the Rules of the game. Lynx’s attacking focus was clearly their gigantic forward Gargiulo that towered over everyone on the field. Erin and Brad pefrectly marshalled the Argentine striker who at no time was allowed to take advantage of his prodigious height. A defensive masterclass by the Gibraltarian internaitonals. Brad had this to say, ‘it was a tough but satisfying duel with their striker. We knew exactly what he was going to offer and how he would try to link up play with the players around him. A physical battle is something which I relish and I feel the defence as a whole came out on top yesterday. I have a very good understanding with Erin at the back and we dealt with everything he threw at us. Baio also did an excellent job of winning the second balls.’ Mr Murphy called time on the first half with United feeling pleased with themselves.

Mr Murphy calls Half Time

The second half kicked off in the same vein and apart from a shot from sub Cano it was all United. Roman had two chances saved while the midfield and defence confidently contained Lynx’s forrays. Manolo moved his bench on the 70th minute and the subs were to have a dramatic impact on the game. Micheal Negrette came on for Pipo and striker Ayman Elghobashy replaced Meireles who had taken a knock. Negrette in particular, was to have a instant impact. He moved to the right flank as Nuñez moved to a 4-4-2 formation. His first peach of a cross was met by the other sub Elghobashy, unmarked on the penalty spot. Whether it was nerves or the fact that the ball was perfect or that he was totally unmarked, he scuffed his lines and missed the header. Another chance going by the wayside.

Yet as usual United kept on plugging and the team got its just rewards on the 80th minute when Roman was found by Elghobashy wide on the ride. He delivered an pin pint accurate cross to Aguiar who was rushing unmarked into the left side of the area; a deft touch to set it up with his left and bang, a cross hit ball that cannoed off the far post into the net. A goal of immense quality in all of its three phases. United deservedly in the lead!

Aguiar receives the plaudits of his team mates.

Euphoria on the stands and on the pitch as United continued to surge forward. Negrette was pinging them in from the right and Roman was driving the Yellows mad with his pace and guile. The last act, however was to belong to El Ghobashy. Baio spread the ball to Farinha who found Negrette on the right. One touch, quick look up and youngster floated in another peach that found Ayman far post. He won his tussle with the defender and thrusted the ball into the net for a dream debut goal!!! United 2-0 with 90 minutes on the clock.

El Ghobashy introduces himself to local football.

Lynx finally had the fight drained out of them and the final four minutes of added time were inconsequential as Mr Murphy whistled for the end of the game United supporters applauded their heroes off the field. A highly anticipated match had delivered and United’s players had banged loudly on the table. Captain Chino spoke to us after the game and said, ‘ this win was vital in order to kick start our campaign on the right foot. The team performed very well considering we have a few new players.’ 3 points and a job well done!

Lynx was established in 2007 and have been a regular Premier Division side since 2012. Their most successful season so far has been in 2013/14 when they finished 3rd and reached the Rock Cup Final which they lost to Lincoln F.C.

Like United, Lynx have had a busy summer. Former Gibraltar National Manager Allen Bulla took over as manager from Albert Parody and they have carried out a large overhaul of their squad. Local players like former Gib Utd centre half Lee Buhagiar and Jeremy Lopez joined the Red and Yellows amid a large number of local players signing for the club. As is customary they also have a fairly large non local contingent but they have lost Mosquera who was their defensive stalwart last year. United vs Lynx matches tend to be close run and well contested matches and in essence this 7th encounter between the clubs sees two massively overhauled sides clash in their opening match of the 2017/18 season.

With the start of the league barely 5 days away we decided to catch up with our new look Captains for the season.

Chino, Brad and Jamie with the Club’s new training gear.

The captain’s armband had been left vacant once Robert Montovio left the playing staff and it was Michel Salgado himself who announced Chino as Club Captain at the Club Gala Night held in June. Brad Power and Jamie Bosio were named as Vice Captains for the season and they took time out of a busy preseason training programme to answer a few questions.

It has been a very busy transfer window with many players leaving and many more coming in to reinforce the squad and the Skippers addressed the issue for us. Chino for one was pleased to see the influx of new players and stated the Club should be praised for the efforts. Brad likewise welcomed the reinforcements claiming that, ‘the club has added quality in different areas of the pitch. Goals is something which we lacked last season but our new additions this year will address that issue and allow us to hopefully get more results and points on the board.’ Sentiments that were echoed by Jamie, ‘ I think we’ve signed some very decent players with plenty of experience of playing in different leagues that could prove vital this year.’

Preseason started very early this year with the players hitting the beach as early as 29th July and have played a substantial number of preseason friendlies, essential to the gelling of a new squad. Chino’s thoughts on the matter were, ‘ This year preseason has had a different but positive feel about it as the club has changed its philosophy. Its has been far more professional and competitive. We have played lots of friendlies where the new players have made their mark and raised the bar as a whole for the club.’

Both Brad and Jamie agreed with Chino with the latter further adding, ‘all in all I think the preparation has been ideal. Many hours of work will hopefully show come the start of the season.’ All three also agreed that the standard of professionalism across the Club had been raised and it was being felt on the training pitch with Brad highlighting the intensity during the sessions and the knock on positive effects that was having.

We kick off aginst Lynx F.C. this coming Monday at 21:00 and all three were asked about their expectations for the match.

Chino answered, ‘Monday’s game will no doubt be a tough game as its always is against a resilient lynx but everyone is upto the task and securing those first 3 points is vital for a positive start.’

Brad expressed similar sentiments, ‘everyone is buzzing for kick off and our final preparations are almost complete. We have a game plan and although both teams have changed a lot from last season we are hoping for a positive start to get confidence right from the off. We’ll go into the season game by game and as we continue to gel as a squad we will hope to be looking further up the table this season.’

Finally Jamie aslo responded, ‘ Lynx are always a tough side to come up against. They usually invest heavily each summer, so we are expecting no different. They will be well-drilled under Bula and I’m sure he will want a positive start to the campaign on Monday like we do. It’ll be a gritty game and I’m really looking forward to getting the ball rolling.’

The Captains and the squad are raring to go and as they strode off onto the training pitch Chino, Brad and Jamie exuded quiet confidence that Gibraltar United was ready for the season to come and impatient to get the ball rolling!